City studies water issues

Monday

A couple of things keep Martha Tasker, the city’s director of utilities, awake at night, she told the Salina City Commission at a study session Monday afternoon.

One is the drought we are in and that is projected to continue. To make matters more concerning, she said, Kanopolis Lake is below the conservation pool level while maintenance work is being done.

The drought in July 2006 prompted the city to declare a water emergency.

Another of her fears is that a tornado could take out the city’s water treatment plant.

For those reasons, she has been working on plans for a second water treatment plant and south well field at the southeast corner of Water Well Road and Ohio Street.

Schilling Air Force Base had a water treatment plant there and gave the water rights to the city, Tasker said.

The city is trying to acquire the land through the process of eminent domain, with a court-appointed panel of appraisers to determine the fair market value.

Three of the five wells on the property can be rehabilitated for municipal use, Tasker said, and two others, the two closest to the water treatment plant, will have to be closed.

The ground water there and at the main water treatment plant is under the direct influence of surface water, so what happens with the Smoky Hill River affects the water in the city’s wells.

The water quality is pretty good, said Brian Meier, Wichita office manager with Burns McDonnell, which is working with Tasker on the project. It does have a fairly high level of selenium, which is a heavy metal related to some health problems, he said.

That is one reason he and consultants HDR recommend using a lime softening process to improve quality, he said.

During the regular meeting, Tasker asked the city to approve an application for a Kansas Department of Health and Environment revolving fund for the water distribution system after a public hearing. No one spoke at the public hearing. The commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the request. Commissioner Trent Davis was absent.

Tasker said the city has already been approved for a $32 million loan from the KDHE revolving loan fund.

The city has 333 miles of water pipes, Tasker said, and 228 of them are cast iron from the 1960s, 1970s and earlier. The city has a goal of spending about $4 million a year to replace the old pipes in an effort to improve water pressure, increase fire safety and improve taste and odor issues.

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